Penn pounds Princeton, 82-65, at Jadwin Gym

Last month, Penn reached for the reset button on its rivalry versus Princeton, beating the Tigers for the first time since 2014 with a 76-70 triumph at the Palestra.

Tuesday night, Penn slammed that reset button down.

Penn stomped Princeton at Jadwin Gym Tuesday night, smacking Princeton, 82-65, for its first win at Jadwin since 2009, first regular season sweep of the Tigers since 2008.

AJ Brodeur bullied Princeton (11-10, 3-3 Ivy) in the paint in the second half after a scoreless first stanza, notching 17 points in the final 20 minutes on 8-for-10 shooting (8-for-8 from two-point range). Brodeur had scored 10 of his 12 points in Penn’s win over Princeton last month in the second half as well.

But Penn (16-6, 6-0) is a team of interchangeable parts and raced out to an 11-0 lead and 40-35 halftime advantage largely due to its guard play, as Ryan Betley, Darnell Foreman and Caleb Wood combining for 30 of Penn’s first-half points. Penn answers a 23-10 Princeton run with a 10-4 of its own to end the half with a 40-35 lead.

Taking advantage of Princeton’s passive defensive approach to him, Foreman posted a career-high 21 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the floor, including 3-for-3 from three.

Three days after surrendering 1.38 points per possession to Brown in a 102-100 overtime loss to the Bears, Princeton allowed 1.21 points per possession to Penn, whose 82 points were the school’s highest ever scoring total at Jadwin Gym.

Myles Stephens pitched in 20 points and 12 rebounds in a losing effort. The only other Tiger who scored in double figures was Amir Bell via 10 points on 5-for-10 shooting.

Penn’s interior passing shredded Princeton in the first half, while Brodeur’s bruising inside game opened up open three-pointers by Caleb Wood and Betley that helped bury Princeton in the second stanza.

A season after Penn started 0-6 in Ivy play before getting to 6-8 and nabbing a berth in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament, the Red and Blue now sit atop the conference at 6-0 in league action.

“I think you are exactly what your record says you are,” Princeton coach Mitch Henderson said after the game, per the Trentonian.

Princeton’s record says it has work to do.

The Tigers are now 3-3 in conference play with six of their final eight games on the road, starting Friday at Lavietes Pavilion, where Princeton is 1-5 under Henderson, with the Tigers’ lone win coming last season, 57-56.

Penn next faces Dartmouth, which swept the Red and Blue last season and hasn’t lost to Penn at Leede Arena since 2013.

4 thoughts on “Penn pounds Princeton, 82-65, at Jadwin Gym”

As a diehard Princeton fan, I offer my congratulations to Penn and its fan base for sweeping the season series against Princeton and for winning convincingly at Jadwin, a place visitors rarely leave feeling satisfied. This may sound treasonous (a word overused of late) to my fellow Tigers fans, but I welcome the return of Penn to the top of the Ivy standings. Both Penn and Princeton benefit from having a strong rivalry with each other. And now, we have a common enemy: the scourge in Cambridge. With last night’s defeat, Princeton has largely been eliminated from the regular season title race, so now it’s up to Penn to prevent the unworthy Crimson from winning a title. The last two years, Yale and Princeton provided this service to the free world. You’re up Penn. We’ll try our best to provide some help on Friday, but please know that this Tigers fan (and I suspect many others) will be cheering for you the rest of the way. At least until the Ivy League tournament begins, when I suspect we may get a third crack at you guys.

If Harvard is swept this weekend, Princeton splits and Brown or Columbia sweeps, you could have a two way tie for second and potentially a two way tie for fourth, with Princeton sharing that spot with potentially Brown or Columbia, (if one of them splits.). Princeton can spend their time thinking about the fate of Harvard- but their real worries are getting into the tournament and worrying about Brown and Columbia, who may be ahead of them very soon